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Welsh merger partners row over name

Plans to create the biggest university in Wales by merging the University of
Glamorgan and the University of Wales Institute Cardiff have run into
problems.

Disputes over a name for the new institution and how its vice-chancellor should
be chosen, along with questions over its status in relation to the federal
University of Wales, are hampering progress.

UWIC suspended merger discussions without explanation last week, in advance of
a deadline for formal submission of the plans to the University of Wales.

Glamorgan's vice-chancellor Sir Adrian Webb told staff in an email: "I am
dismayed that this action has been taken unilaterally as much work needs to be
done over the next few weeks if the target date of August 2004 is to be
achieved."

Talks resumed this week in time for the plans to be submitted, and Glamorgan's
pro vice-chancellor Aldwyn Cooper said he was confident the merger would stay
on track. But he admitted a number of key issues still needed to be resolved.
The question of the new institution's name was a "very, very difficult one", he
said.

The name Cardiff Metropolitan University has been proposed after a public
consultation, but resistance from local people and staff at Glamorgan resulted
in an early-day motion from 20 MPs rejecting it as "inappropriate in denying
the importance of the Glamorgan valleys" and calling for the new institution to
be called Cardiff Glamorgan University.

Another thorny problem is that while Glamorgan wants to go to open competition
to find a vice-chancellor for the new institution, UWIC wants to offer the job
to internal candidates.

Professor Cooper said: "UWIC believes there is at least one strong internal
candidate - its vice-chancellor. But we are looking at a university that will
be a big new dynamic institution, and we want to be assured that we have the
best possible person to lead it. That person may be UWIC's vice-chancellor or
ours. But it is difficult to defend the position of not inviting external
candidates."

UWIC's vice-chancellor Tony Chapman declined to comment.

The final hurdle is a legal question about whether Glamorgan, which is not a
member of the federal University of Wales and has its own degree-awarding
powers, can become a "university within a university".

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